Death of spouses and bereavement occur frequently in the life of older people. There is a wide range of outcomes to such losses and bereavement reflecting difference in age, sex, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, education, religious affiliation, cultural factors, and cohorts. The purpose of this research is to learn more about the total process of bereavement and the short and longterm outcomes of death and bereavement. This research uses longitudinal data (e.g. from 1963 to 1982), a relatively large sample and a control group. The research is based on a model including (1) individual, family, and environmental characteristics, (2) intervening variables of death, bereavement, and bereavement patterns, and (3) differential outcomes. A follow-up in 1983 of a large scale, representative sample of a middle-sized city in 1963 makes the project longitudinal in nature. Using techniques developed by our research staff, both families that have experienced death and those that have not (a control group) will be followed up to determine the major factors in differential bereavement patterns and outcomes. Patterns and typologies of bereavement will be developed and related to differential outcomes using appropriate statistical techniques used in past research.